As Fall River Fire Department braces for cuts, firefighters say they're worried about safety and futures

Tuesday

Jul 8, 2014 at 6:33 PMJul 8, 2014 at 6:51 PM

Brian Fraga Herald News Staff Reporter @BfragaHN

FALL RIVER — Andy Carvalho served himself a good-sized portion of grilled chicken, beef and linguica that a co-worker cooked for him on his last day as a Fall River firefighter.

“It’s a last supper, so to speak,” Carvalho said Tuesday afternoon in between calls at the Flint Reney/Eastwood Fire Station on Eastern Avenue. Carvalho, 34, is one of at least 28 Fall River firefighters who will be laid off by 5 p.m. Friday.

“This past week, it started hitting me pretty hard. I’m going to miss the job. Personally, I don’t want to do anything besides being a firefighter in Fall River. It’s been a lifelong dream,” said Carvalho, a four-year firefighter who will be out of work when he finishes his 24-hour shift at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

The city is laying off Carvalho and his fellow firefighters as the money from a $14.4 million federal SAFER grant runs out this month.

The revenue loss prompted the fire department to close Engines 3 and 7 on Sunday, leaving one more truck in service than the city had after the 2008 layoffs.

Fall River Fire Chief Robert Viveiros said the department will face challenges in maintaining response times and proper fire coverage to ensure public safety.

“Multiple alarms are going to be a challenge,” Viveiros said. “We’re going to be short men. We’re going to rely on mutual aid, but will they be available. And how fast will they be able to get here? Only time will tell.”

In May, Mayor Will Flanagan’s administration and the Fall River Firefighters Union Local 1314 reached an agreement to reduce the fire department’s staffing to 175 this summer, with benchmarks that the city will rehire all the laid-off personnel within three years and keep a minimum of 200 firefighters by July 2018.

The pact saved 22 jobs; Flanagan had originally proposed cutting the fire department’s staffing to 153 firefighters to close a $3 million shortfall in fiscal 2015. Since then, Flanagan has pushed through a pay-as-you-throw garbage disposal program that he projects will generate about $3.5 million in additional revenue.

Several firefighters interviewed Tuesday at the Flint Fire Station said the city effectively made them scapegoats for pay-as-you-throw, which they said the city was going to have to consider anyway given that it will lose another $1.8 million in annual revenues once the Fall River Industrial Park landfill closes by October.

Meanwhile, fewer firefighters will mean less safety for Fall River, said CJ Ponte, a 10-year firefighter.

“If you have common sense, you know having less firefighters on the street is a detriment to public safety. There’s nothing around that, plain and simple,” said Ponte, who was among dozens of Fall River firefighters laid off in 2008 after the city lost millions of dollars in state aid during the middle of the fiscal year.

Josh Hetzler, a four-year firefighter who will not be laid off this week, said he is worried about having fewer people covering his back at fire scenes.

“In a city the size of Fall River, you need to have a number of guys ready to go,” Hetzler said. “It’s going to be riskier. A whole slew of things could come along with this.”

In responding to fires, Hetzler said, up until this week, there might have been 12 firefighters on a scene within five minutes.

“Now, you might only have six for the first five minutes, then you’re waiting another five for the other ones, and then God forbid there’s another call,” Hetzler said. “You can run into a bad situation really fast. There is definitely more potential for something really bad to happen.”

Viveiros said the department is looking to modify its engine and ladder runs to put more firefighters initially on a scene. But even with working on “what trucks go where and how many go,” Viveiros admitted that the contingency planning still amounts to a “roll of the dice.”

Carvalho, a married father with two young children, said he is looking for job opportunities in other cities and towns.

“In a perfect world, it’s not my intent to leave. I had the intention to be a Fall River firefighter for life,” Carvalho said, adding that he has tried to remain focused and professional despite the turmoil. At first, Carvalho said he was angry and felt that the city had let him and his fellow firefighters down, though he credits his religious faith with keeping him grounded.

“I’m deeply rooted in my faith. I figure God’s in control. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen,” said Carvalho, who hopes to return to the Fall River Fire Department.

But he did not sound optimistic.

“I won’t hold my breath on that one,” he said. “My family comes first. I have to do what’s best for my family."